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An in-depth <\/span>analysis of the 2024 presidential campaign commissioned by the Democratic National Committee fails to mention the party\u2019s position on Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza, prompting harsh criticism from Arab American members of the party.<\/p>\n The 192-page report, authored by a Democratic strategist and first published by CNN<\/a> on Thursday morning, goes in-depth on several factors found to be detrimental to Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019s campaign in its ultimate loss to Donald Trump. Despite the contention within the party over then-President Joe Biden\u2019s support for Israel\u2019s genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza, however, the war doesn\u2019t get a single mention.<\/p>\n Also missing from the document are the words \u201cIsrael,\u201d \u201cPalestine,\u201d \u201cArab American,\u201d and \u201cMuslim.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the DNC declined to comment on the omission of anything having to do with Gaza, instead pointing The Intercept to a Substack written by party chair Ken Martin<\/a> in which he acknowledged what the committee found to be several shortcomings by the report\u2019s author, Democratic strategist Paul Rivera.<\/p>\n \u201cThe data clearly showed that Gaza had hurt Biden and Harris.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n One policymaker who spoke with Rivera in July 2025 for the qualitative, fact-finding portion of the autopsy research told The Intercept that he was surprised when the report emerged with no mention of Gaza or the resulting conflicts within the Democratic coalition. He said that his group had discussed the impact of Gaza policy with Rivera at length.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPaul was very clear with us in our conversation that they had done the quantitative review,\u201d said the politico, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue, \u201cand that the data clearly showed that Gaza had hurt Biden and Harris.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In recent weeks, pressure mounted to release the report in full \u2014 a move Martin said he was reluctant to take due to major flaws in the report, which he dubbed \u201cnot ready for primetime.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am not proud of this product; it does not meet my standards, and it won\u2019t meet your standards,\u201d Martin wrote Thursday in a post on the DNC\u2019s Substack. \u201cI don\u2019t endorse what\u2019s in this report, or what\u2019s left out of it. I could not in good faith put the DNC\u2019s stamp of approval on it.\u201d<\/p>\n Martin also fails to mention Gaza, Israel, or any other terms related to the genocide in his post.<\/p>\n The policymaker said he had found Rivera to be thorough and professional, and he believes Martin is shifting the blame.<\/p>\n \u201cMy strong suspicion is that Paul was being thrown under the bus,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s very convenient to a lot of people that a lot seems to be missing, and it would be very convenient if the reason it\u2019s missing is \u2018oh, Paul\u2019s really bad at his job.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Others defended Martin\u2019s conduct. James Zogby, a founder of the Arab American Institute and a candidate for vice-chair of the DNC in 2024, praised Martin\u2019s leadership but called his pledge to release the report an \u201cunforced error\u201d that was being seized upon by a consultant class hostile to his on focus rebuilding state party infrastructure.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know what the mistakes were,\u201d Zogby said. \u201cThe question now is how do we not make them again, and we didn\u2019t need to make a fuss over a report that wasn\u2019t going to tell us anything we didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n The Intercept attempted to reach Rivera via The Capacity Shop, a firm that lists him as an advisor, but the group did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing about this surprises me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cNothing about this surprises me,\u201d said Linda Sarsour, an organizer from Brooklyn who was active in organizing a campaign<\/a> to pressure Harris to take a stance against the war. \u201cIf they don\u2019t change course quickly to center Palestine, foreign policy and recognize the influence of Arab\/Palestinian\/Muslim\/young\/progressive American voters, they will likely have to write another autopsy report post 2028 presidential elections.\u201d<\/p>\n In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, Biden\u2019s support for Israel\u2019s war on Gaza became a key point of contention between the Democratic establishment, on one side, and progressive Democrats, including Arab Americans, on the other. The progressives argued that the failure to take a stance against unflinching support for the genocide was tamping down excitement among the party\u2019s base, especially young voters.<\/p>\n A group of delegates that dubbed themselves the \u201cUncommitted Movement<\/a>\u201d fought to get push the party left on Gaza. The activists put forward a slate of suggested speakers at the party convention in Chicago, including Ruwa Romman<\/a>, a Palestinian-American state representative in Georgia, but none of the speakers were accepted.<\/p>\n Romman, who is currently running for Georgia\u2019s state Senate, said she was deeply disappointed to see the lack of mention of Gaza in the report.<\/p>\n While the Gaza war was a key issue for many Arab American and Muslim voters, particularly in a swing state like Michigan, Romman acknowledged that most voters nationwide and in her home state of Georgia were not listing Gaza as their top concern. Still, she said, the issue emerged as something of a smell test for the integrity of Democratic politicians hoping to sell their message to an electorate beset by financial insecurity and healthcare woes.<\/p>\n\n
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